Symbiotic control of mosquito borne disease

Abstract

It is well accepted that the symbiotic relationships insects have established with several microorganisms have had a key role in their evolutionary success. Bacterial symbiosis is also prevalent in insects that are efficient disease vectors, and numerous studies have sought to decrypt the basic mechanisms of the hostsymbiont relationships and develop ways to control vector borne diseases. 'Symbiotic control', a new multifaceted approach that uses symbiotic microorganisms to control insect pests or reduce vector competence, seems particularly promising. Three such approaches currently at the cutting edge are: (1) the disruption of microbial symbionts required by insect pests; (2) the manipulation of symbionts that can express anti-pathogen molecules within the host; and (3) the introduction of endogenous microbes that affect life-span and vector capacity of the new hosts in insect populations. This work reviews current knowledge on microbial symbiosis in mosquitoes that holds promise for development of symbiotic control for mosquito borne diseases.

Composition of Anopheles coluzzii and Anopheles gambiae microbiota from larval to adult stages

“…The recent development of next generation sequencing (NGS) technologies has renewed the interest of using microorganisms as tools to control vector populations or parasite and virus transmission (Boissière et al, 2012;Metzker, 2010;Minard et al, 2013;Petrosino et al, 2009;Ricci et al, 2012;Sogin et al, 2006). By contrast to conventional culture-mediated techniques, NGS presents the advantage to identify the whole bacterial content in a biological sample (Metzker, 2010).…”

“…Later, blood feeding of adult females also leads in a significant midgut bacterial reduction (Wang et al, 2011). Understanding how mosquito microbiota evolved through the mosquito life cycle will then help to identify specific bacteria that could be used in vector-borne disease control strategies (Ricci et al, 2012). Characterization of microbial community structure across the mosquito life cycle is then a prerequisite to ensure the proper selection of bacteria of interest.…”

Learning from the Enemy: Innate RNA Interference Renders Mosquitos Asymptomatic to Arboviral Infection and Provides Researchers with New Approaches to Subdue its Effects

“…Some experiments have suggested a mutualistic (+/+) relationship in which the mosquito draws some benefit from being infected with the virus [6].…”

“…Rather, it elucidates the mutualism between mosquitoes and arboviruses, suggesting that tolerating arboviral infection confers a selective advantage to the vector. While not currently well understood [6], the evolutionary history should prove useful to researchers seeking to characterize an effective vector. With this information, we can more effectively target vectors at the cellular level to eliminate the spread of arboviruses.…”

Microbial symbiosis and the control of vector-borne pathogens in tsetse flies, human lice, and triatomine bugs

“…A recent review highlighted the importance of the study of symbiosis in mosquitoes, for developing novel strategies for the control mosquito-borne diseases. 1 The present review is focused on symbiosis in other bloodsucking insects of medical importance: tsetse flies (genus Glossina), human lice (genus Pediculus), and triatomine bugs. Mutualistic bacteria are frequently observed in hematophagous insects, due to the lack of balance in the insect diet and the subsequent need of metabolic integration.…”